Thursday, December 23, 2010

Jingle Bell Blog Fest: Sherry Gloag

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Click here and tell us how long Ben and Gina have been married for a chance to win a $50 Amazon or Barnes and Noble gift certificate.

﻿ “You shouldn’t be on that ladder!” The sight of his heavily pregnant wife reaching up to place the fairy on top of the Christmas tree shot Ben across the room, his briefcase falling to the floor unheeded.

“What!”

The ladder swayed, Ben grabbed it and cursed. The fairy arced into the air and landed at the other side of the room.

“For goodness sake, now look what you’ve done Ben.” Gina cast an exasperated glance down at the shaking man now welded to the ladder. “You startled the life out of me.”

“Not half as much as the sight of you about to lose your balance up there scared me, I can tell you! I don’t want to spend our first Christmas as a family at the hospital A and E department.” He lifted her to safety and lowered her gently to the floor then rested his forehead against hers. It took several moments for his heart rate to drop back to normal. Then with one hand he caressed her swollen abdomen, then cupped her face and drew her in for a kiss. “I know we were married last Christmas, but there’s something about being together and knowing our child is a part of it that makes this year special.” He glanced at the decorations strewn across the floor and the lights carefully laid along the back of the settee, and let the love surround him.For the first ten years of his life Christmas was a cold lonely room with little to eat, and for Gina the sights, sounds and stench of surrounding streets and damp cardboard boxes, were reality. He vowed then and there, with Gina snuggled up against his chest, that he’d keep her and his children safe, and wrapped in love.

“You know?” Gina pulled away and smiled up at him, “I find it hard sometimes, to believe we were lucky enough to find each other.”

“Synchronicity.”

She shook her head; then looked back at the tree. “Magic! The same magic you find in Christmas. I don’t mean the commercialism,” she added quickly when Ben snorted. “I’m talking about the basic message of Christmas, the continuity, the trust and belief, the love…” She stopped, thought for a moment then continued. “The kind of love I’m talking about is boundless, has its own energy, finds its own level and destination.

“Contrary to expectations we came together and overcame the odds against us. Christmas reminds us to celebrate each day and the newness of life.” Gina’s hand curled over Ben’s cradling the son their doctor insisted would arrive on Christmas day.

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Sherry Gloag delights in the knowledge her debut novel, The Brat, released in October 2010 by The Wild Rose Press, is ‘out there’ in time for Christmas. Twice in the past decade fortune tellers told her she would have a book published in 2010. Twice she disbelieved them. Now she blushes with remorse for her cynicism.

When she’s not writing, Sherry Gloag enjoys gardening, walking and reading. For relaxation she disappears into her workshop and involves herself in crystal craftwork.